


make sure your umbrella is upside down

by weatheredlaw



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Female Character, Blind Date, Character Death, Depression, English Dub, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Social Anxiety, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 02:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3232448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatheredlaw/pseuds/weatheredlaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Well, good things to those who wait or whatever, right?"</i>
</p><p>or: Yugi works through his anxiety to give his number to a cute boy, and Yami considers finding new friends. In the end, everyone is mostly happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	make sure your umbrella is upside down

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a fic I started writing like three years ago or so. I've got a lot of yugioh fics that I never published because of other fandoms and such, but I'm working on getting more of it out there. This one was in a completely different tense and had started going in a more relationship-based direction. I basically took the bare bones and rewrote the entire thing, turned it into my new favorite kind of story which is the one where no one gets laid and everyone is anxious and has an iPhone. So, a millennial AU, basically. I'm also a child of the English dub era. I've seen the original subbed, but I'm not comfortable enough with Japanese honorifics to write them here, so I give you the 4Kids names. Apologies in advance if that's not your thing.

"Okay." Joey pulls up a chair and settles in across from Yugi. What if I _gave_ you money. Like, _actual_ cash money."

Yugi looks up from his work, eyebrow arched. "To go to the party? How much?"

"Wait." Joey shakes his head. "Are you serious?"

"How much money?" Yugi asks again, leaning back and grinning.

"I am not _paying_ you to go to a party!" Joey stands, sputtering while Tristan and Duke laugh at him from the kitchen and Teá shouts from the bathroom, "You suggested it!" He scowls. "This is not happening."

Yugi sighs and sits forward again, focusing on the game board in front of him. It's like this all the time -- Joey tries the pry him from his spot on the couch, with money or drinks or promises of free tacos. Yugi glances up at him, almost feels sorry for him.

Almost.

"A hundred dollars," he says. Tristan and Duke _howl_. Joey isn't amused. "You _asked._ " 

"I don't _have_ a hundred dollars."

"Guess I'm in for the night then, huh?"

Teá sticks her head around the corner, one eye darkened with eyeliner, brandishing the pencil in her hand. "Leave him alone, Joey Wheeler. Yugi, you don't have to go _anywhere_ if you don't want to."

"She-devil! Finish your costume!" Duke calls out, ducking when she throws the sharpener at his head. 

"I have seven dollars," Joey says, fishing into his pocket for his wallet. "And a coupon for Arby's." Yugi shrugs, setting down the exacto knife on the coffee table and looking for the glue. "Man, I know you're sad. But you gramps wouldn't want you to stay in like this. Not every weekend, Yug." The room goes silent. Teá's music in the bathroom gets a little quieter. "I know you don't wanna talk about it--"

"I don't," Yugi says, hands gripping the bottle of glue. He closes his eyes, breathes carefully like his shrink taught him, and counts to ten. 

_He means well, he means well, he means well--_

The sound of a bottle cap clattering onto the floor startles him and Yugi looks up while Duke chugs half of a beer and then _belches_ , just because he can.

"Pre-game anyone?"

 

 

 

The truth is this: Solomon Muto had died and left Yugi alone in the world. His mother didn't always count -- not because she didn't love him, or because she didn't care, but just because she's gone a lot and doesn't understand the game shop the way Yugi does. Now she's trying to sell the whole thing.

Yugi had grown up in the shop. He'd been raised by his grandfather in that shop. While his mother was busy, busy, _busy_ \-- and for that, Yugi could never fault her, he loved her too much, was loved too much -- his grandfather taught him the things he needed to know. 

And now there's a hole in his chest where those moments used to go. The sound of his grandfather's voice, the smell of coffee and cardboard that hung around him constantly. Sometimes a bit of paint or glue that tinged the air between them, reminding Yugi of the work that always needed to be done, for fun or otherwise.

And since then, all Yugi can do is eat, sleep, go to school and work on this game. This _game_ \-- the bane of Joey's existence, the one thing that's kept him from going crazy. His shrink had warned him when he told her about it -- that it could become an obsession and obsessions were poor substitutes for love.

Yugi hasn't told her much about it lately, mostly because he knows what she'll think. He knows he's fixated. He knows he's been shutting everyone out for weeks now. He knows that the only reason Tristan and Teá and Duke don't say too much is because Joey's always saying what everyone else is thinking.

"You can't just _stay_ in here, Yugi. Not forever."

 _Of course not_ , he always wants to stay. _Just a little less than that, right?_

This party isn't particularly special. Not the way Joey talks about it. He gives up after Yugi names his price and goes into the kitchen to have a beer with Duke. Tristan shakes his head and settles down next to Yugi, picking up an older piece, long since painted and dried. "Lookin' good, Muto."

"It's slow."

"Well, good things to those who wait or whatever, right?" Yugi laughs and nods, picking out another piece to cut. "So."

"So."

Tristan leans forward. "This party."

"Tristan--"

"Hold on." He pries the exacto knife from Yugi's grip and sets it down on the other side of the table. "Hear me out, okay?" Yugi sighs and folds his arms over his chest, angling himself toward Tristan. "I'm going to make you a promise, okay? It's a good promise, too. Honest." Yugi rolls his eyes. "I promise--" He holds one hand up and the other over his heart. "--that _if_ you go to this party tonight? You _will not_ regret it. Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Oh good grief."

"Seriously. Just...trust me. If you go out with us I promise. You won't regret this. At all."

Yugi tips his head to the side. "You're not setting me up with someone."

"Ah. Well--"

"No. Not happening. Not again."

"He's _different_ \--"

"That's what you said the last time."

Tristan groans, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Yeah, yeah, I _know_ it didn't go over so well. But I'm telling you! This time--"

"Okay!" Teá comes into the living room, eyes symetrical and legs shaved, apparently. It'd been a big deal. "I'm ready."

"You're going _down_ Gardner," Joey says, finishing the last of his beer and tossing it into the garbage. "I'm winning."

"You won't," Duke says to Joey and turns to Teá. "He won't, but it's cute that he thinks he will."

"What's happening?" Yugi asks, already a little aware.

"Mai Valentine will be in attendence this evening," Joey says, grinning. "And I will win her heart."

"Hardly," Teá mutters, checking her lipstick in the mirror by the door. "He doesn't have a chance in hell. Mai Valentine is bisexual, beautiful, and out of your league. _I_ on the other hand, fit all of the above."

" _You're_ out of her league," Joey snaps.

"True," Teá concedes. "But fake it 'til you make it." 

"Right, well. You guys have fun," Yugi says as Tristan pushes himself off the sofa. Duke is on the verge of opening another beer and if he isn't careful he'll be smashed before they even get there. 

"Remind me why we're dating," Tristan mutters, prying the bottle from Duke's hand and putting it back in the fridge.

"Because you find me irresistable and I do that incredible thing with my tongue--"

" _Too_ much information," Joey yells, opening to door. "We'll be back later. Well, _they_ will be back. I, on the other hand, will be spending the evening with Miss Valentine--"

"Dream on," Teá says, pushing him out the door. She turns to Yugi. "I'll text you the address. In case something terrible goes wrong."

"Or!" Tristan says brightly, caught up in Duke's noodle arms as they snake around his waist. "In case you change your mind!"

"Right," Yugi mutters, getting up to lock the door after them. "I'll be sure to let you know."

* * *

"This is Bakura," Marik says, throwing an arm around the most serious looking person Yami's ever seen. " _He_ knows _Yugi._ "

Bakura rolls his eyes and pushes Marik's arm off of him, going into the kitchen. "Yes, yes. _That's_ why I've been invited. For the singular purpose of uniting your bizarre lookalike friends."

"No," Marik says. "You're here because you're _my_ friend, and _my_ friends get invited to _my_ parties. Along with handsome and eligible looking bachelors for my _other_ friends." Yami rolls his eyes. "Now _don't_ be that way. I'm just trying to help."

Yami raises an eyebrow. "The last time you helped me I ended up on a scavenger hunt for a bachelorette party and woke up two towns over without my wallet and no phone. So you'll forgive me if I'm not exactly _thrilled_ about the help." Bakura laughs and lifts his drink up in solidarity. The first official meeting for the Victims of Helpful Marik Club. 

"Whatever," Marik says. "You'll thank me later when you finally meet this guy. He's great, he's--" 

"Not coming." Yami looks up, surprised to find the living room suddenly full of people. A taller guy, little sheepish looking, being tugged on by his boyfriend, puts a hand on Marik's shoulder. "Sorry."

"What?" Marik looks absolutely distraught. Perfect, in Yami's opinion. "But _you_ said--"

"Yeah, yeah. I thought he'd be better now. But he's just...I don't know."

"Yugi's _sad_ ," the guy's boyfriend says. "Tristan, let's get more drunk."

"You go do that." Tristan kisses the guy on the temple and points him toward the drinks. "Anyway, I did what I could. Sorry," he says again, flushing. "It's just not time yet, I guess."

Yami folds his arms over his chest. "Considering you're talking about me, sort of, can I ask what's wrong?"

Tristan sighs. "Yugi lost his grandfather. The guy practically raised him. He's just...taken it pretty hard. Harder than we thought he would I guess. I don't know, maybe--" 

"Maybe I'm a hermit at heart? Getting in touch with my true hermit self?" 

"Yugi!" Tristan turns and wraps his arms around him, lifting Yugi up in the air. "You came!"

"Yeah, I followed you losers here. Figured if Joey was willing to pay me enough to come here, I might as well make the trip. Besides." He points to the corner, where Teá is clearly having the better luck with Mai. "I _had_ to see that." He glances over and catches sight of Yami, clearing his throat and excusing himself to go get a drink. 

Marik waves him along, turning back and wrapping an arm around Tristan. "I _knew_ he'd come."

 

 

 

After five minutes of Marik's self-congratulatory babbling, Yami follows after Yugi, because he may as well get this out of the way. He stands awkwardly behind him as he chats with some girl before she goes off to find her boyfriend. Yugi turns, leaning back against the counter and looking Yami up and down. "Well."

"Hi."

Yugi laughs "Yeah. _Hi._ Tristan's tried this before," he adds. 

"Marik tries all the time."

"Ah. So we already know how this ends."

"To be fair, I've never been introduced to someone suffering so similar a fate. So who knows?" He holds up his cup. "We could be good friends by the end of the night."

"I could always do with more of those," Yugi says. 

"Indeed." They stand in silence for a moment before Yami scuffs the floor with his shoe, clearing his throat. "I'm, uh. I'm sorry. About your grandfather."

Yugi stiffens, staring hard down into his cup and shrugging. "It's alright."

"It's not. But still. I'm sorry." 

"Well. Thanks." He sniffs and looks up, avoiding Yami's eyes. "So."

"So." 

Yugi sighs. "Look. I won't...I can't stay here too long. I don't know what it is, or why. My shrink says I've had social anxiety probably for forever, but this hasn't...helped. But you seem nice and Tristan said you were nice and I trust him." Yugi turns and starts digging through the drawers in the kitchen, pulling out a napkin and a pen. He scribbles something and hands it to Yami. "This is my number. I can't really be here, but I think maybe I need to...start. Being here. Here, you know, being a metaphor and everything."

Yami laughs. "Okay. I like that idea."

"Yeah?" Yugi grins. "That's great. Okay. So." He tips back his cup and finishes it off. "I'm going to go back home before I start, like, hyperventilating. Text me, though."

"Do you want mine?"

Yugi looks embarrassed and ducks his head. "No. Because I won't... _do_ anything with it. I don't have that kind of initiative right now. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I think it's pretty...pretty brave of you to come out anyway. Even if you're scared." 

"I--" Yugi's face flushes bright red and he fumbles with the cup, toppling it over on the counter. "I have to go." He gives Yami one last, kind of perfect, disarming smile -- then vanishes into the thick of the party. 

 

 

 

"So?" Marik is holding a garbage bag while Bakura tosses cups into it from across the room, sinking each one in a rather drunkenly spectacular fashion. "How'd it go?"

"He gave me his number?"

Marik drops the bag and Bakura misses. "That's _it?_ "

"What did you expect they were going to do?" Bakura asks, tossing a cup at Marik's head. "Pick the bag up, we're almost done."

"Well I thought...I mean. I just--"

"He's very...sad," Yami says carefully. "He's doing things in his own way."

Marik huffs and ties the bags up, throwing it onto the balcony. "Well. _Fine._ I only put _hours_ of work into this meeting."

"Yes," Bakura says dryly. "Literal _hours_. How could you be so thoughtless and not propose marriage after our good friend spent _hours_ setting you up >"

"Don't patronize me," Marik says. "I was trying to help."

"You did a good job. Believe me, I think it's going to go somewhere. Eventually. Probably." Yami sighs and sits down on the couch. He's thinking about Yugi's smile, and the way it doesn't quite reach his eyes, even if he's trying. Of course he wants to be a part of whatever life Yugi has -- there's an inescapable compassion there that Yami's is desperate to tie himself to. 

But he can't, not yet. Not before Yugi's ready. 

He does message him, because he has to put something out there, cross his fingers and hope, maybe, the universe sends it back.

* * *

**yami:** whenever you're up to it, we should get coffee

Yugi's had the message on his phone for a week now, just sort of sitting there, open sometimes when he needs to think about all the ways he's edgy and noncommital.

Teá leans over his shoulder one day and catches him looking at it, running a hand through his hair. "Mai's coming over to get me for lunch, you wanna come with us?"

"So I guess you won?"

"I did." Teá glances at the open message on his phone. "Are you ever going to answer?"

Yugi leans back into her touch and sighs. "Maybe."

"He's being very patient, I'll give him that." She sits on the end of the couch and swings her legs into his lap elegantly. "What do you think?"

Yugi scrubs a hand over his face and shrugs. "I don't know. I guess I think he's nice."

"He's cute."

"He is," Yugi admits. 

"Well." Teá shifts and stands, heading into the kitchen. "Text him when you're ready. I think he'd be worth it."

Yugi watches her go, his eyes trailing back to his phone. It would be so easy to delete the message, pretend it didn't happen, pretend he didn't meet someone who might have waited for him to get enough of himself together, just for a while. It would be so _easy._

But then, nothing about these last few months has been easy.

Why start now?


End file.
